Reenforced basket bottom



' May 19, 1931.

c. c. nAvls REBNFORCED BASKET BOTTOM Filed March '1, 1927 Patented May 19, 1931 v 1 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE CHARLES C. DAVIS, on ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN, SSIGNOE, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, .ro

ST. JOSEPH mow worms, OF ST. JOSEPH, mrcmeamn CORPORATION or MICHIGAN REENFORCED BASKET BOTTOM Application filed March 7, 927. SeriaiNo. 173,264.

My invention relates to Straight side or hamper baskets having a plurality of panels or thin staves secured together with hoops so as to form an annular shell or body, which is provided at the lower end with a raised bottom, and my invention has reference more particularly to the construction of the bottom of the basket.

Baskets of the type to which my invention relates are used principally for packing and shipping fruit, vegetables and the like, and .for the purpose of economy in manufacture and transportation it is the practice, when the basket bottom is rather large, to minimize material by constructing the bottom of thin material which is secured to a marginal hoop and assembled in the basket. Because of the thinness of the material which it is desirable to use, and the fact that the basket bottom is often times exposed to moisture, which greatly increases the flexibility of the thin ma terial, basket bottoms of the above type have sometimes been found objectionable on account of sagging under the weight and pres sure of the load.

The principal objects of my invention are to provide a substantial and rigid basket bottom with a minimum amount of material; to prevent sagging or undesirable depression of a light weight basket bottom under the weight and pressure of the load; to provide a basket bottom of thin material secured to a hoop and reinforced againstusagging or depression; to accomplish the reinforcing or stiffening of a light weight basket bottom in a simple, convenient and inexpensive manner; to afford ample security by connecting the stiffening member of the basket bottom to the reinforcing members around the lower end of the basket wall; to provide a reenforced basket bottom of the above character,

which may be readily constructed and in corporated in baskets of the present type; and in general, to provide an improved light weight basket bottom at a minimum cost which overcomes the objectionable sagging or depression which has been experienced with basket bottoms of thin material such 0 as heretofore provided. On the drawings:

' Fig. 1 is a top perspective view of a basket of the type to which my invention relates, 'with the basket cover in place thereon;

Fig. 2 is a bottom perspective view of the basket; i a

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the basket just above the basket bottom; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numerals 1 indicate the panels or staves of the'basket body or side wall, which aresecured at their upper ends by staples 2 between outer and inner hoops 3 and 4 respectively and likewise at their lower ends by staples 5 between an outer hoop 6 and an inner hoop 7. The side wall panels 1 are also preferably reenforc-ed by an outer hoop 8, which is stapled at 9 to the panels 1 between the upper.

and lower ends of the basket wall. The panels 1 are preferably lapped as indicated in Fig. 3, and the staples 2, 5 and 9 arranged to pass through the overlapping portions of the adjoining panels or staves. I

The cover may be of any usual type, for

example comprising a hoop 10 having a pluralityof cross slats llsecured at their ends to the upper edge of the hoop 10 by nails or staples 12, and in practice the uppermost.

slat 11 is of greater length than the diameter of the cover, to afford projecting ends which engage with the handles 13 of the basket for holding the cover in place.

The basket bottom is illustrated herein as permanently attached to the annular wall or: Uni

of the basket, and consists of thin material I which is stapled to the upper edge of the hoop 7, so that the latter Serves not only as a bottom reenforcing member for the basket wall but also asthe marginal rim of the basket bottom. The thin material of the basket bottom may be a single piece or composed of slats or panels arranged in any desirable manner,but I prefer to use two substan-"- tially semi-circular panels 14 arranged as shown in parallelrelation and stapled at 15 to the hoop'7.

For reenforcin -the thin panels 14 against depression or undesirable sagging under the weight or pressure of the contents of the basket, a batten or strip 16 of relatively thick material is used, which extends acrossthe hoop 7 at right angles to the length of the panels 1 1 and this batten or strip is preferably stapled to the panels 14 as indicated at 17. If the batten 16 is fastened close to its ends to the panels 14, this attachment alone may serve to adequately reenforce the basket bottom without further fastening of the batten to the basket structure, but in practice I also prefer to fasten the batten at its ends. This may be done merely by fastening the ends of the batten to the hoop 7 but in practice I have found it convenient, after the basket bottom is assembled in the basket, to insert nails 18 or other fastenings through the hoops 6 and 7 and interposed portions of the side wall panels 1 and into the ends of the batten 16, as this serves to fasten the batten securely in place in the lower end of the basket, so that it forms an unusually rigid support for the panels 14. o

It is desirable to raise the batten 16 somewhat above the lower edges of the hoops 6 and 7, so that the batten will not be injured 7 or displaced when the basket is dragged over the floor or ground and also to prevent the batten interfering with the stacking of the basket on the crowned cover of another basket, and a batten 16 is therefore preferably used, the thickness of which is less than the distance between the upper and lower edges of the hoop 7, and when this batten is placed with the upper face flush with the upper edge of the hoop 7, the lower face of the batten is suitably elevatedabove the lower edge of the hoop 7. lVith this construction panels 14 of quite thin material may be used as the batten 16 serves as a substantial reenforcing and prevents depression or sagging of the basket bottom under the Weight or pressure of the load. Vvhile I have shown and described my invention in a preferred form, I amaware that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of my invention, the scope of which is to be determined by the appended claims. I claim as my invention: 7 1. In a shipping basket, a cylindrical shell having an internal hoop at its lower end, a circular bottom within the shell and resting upon the upper edge of the hoop, and a batten extending across the under face of the bottom, the ends of the batten abutting the inside of the hoop, and fastenings securing the parts together.

In a shipping basket, the combination of a downwardly tapered frusto-conical shell having an internal hoop at its lower end, a circular bottom within the shell and resting on the upper edge of the hoop, a batten extending across the under face of the botthe bottom.

CHARLES C. DAVIS. 

